Top 25 Spin Bowlers With Most Wickets In Tests

All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards. Our ratings are based on conditions and diverse oppositions. Before the above mentioned date, there were primarily only two teams which dominated cricket. Moreover, matches were of unequal length with some ending in 4 days and some being timeless. Post 1950, West Indies and South Africa grew as test teams. Moreover, Asian teams India and Pakistan started improving after 1950 and became compenent at home at least. Performance in Asia and outside Asia are integral to our overall rating.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2023-01-08

History of Top Wicket Takers

Fred Trueman of England was the first bowler to cross 300 wickets in test cricket. He finished his career in 1965 with 307 wickets. His record was broken by Dennis Lillee of Australia, in December 1981. Dennis Lillee retired in 1984 with 355 wickets. Ian Botham of England crossed his tally at The Oval in 1986. Richard Hadlee of New Zealand equalled Ian Botham’s tally of 373 wickets against Australia in Melbourne in December 1987. He took the record to 431 wickets. Kapil Dev broke his record against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad in February 1994. Kapil’s record of 434 stood for around 6 years before it was broken by Courtney Walsh in March 2000. Walsh took the record past 500 wickets for the first time retiring in April 2001 with 519 wickets. Then there was a tussle between Muthiah Muralidaran and Shane Warne for the record which was won by Muralidaran, who has took the record to a mammoth 800 wickets by the time he retired from Tests in July 2010. Among fast bowlers, the record for most wickets is held by James Anderson, who is the only one with more than 600 wickets.

TOP 25 Spinners WITH MOST WICKETS IN TEST CRICKET


RANK BOWLER NAT FP LP INNS RUNS WKTS
1 M Muralitharan SL 1992 2010 230 18180 800
2 SK Warne AUS 1992 2007 273 17995 708
3 A Kumble IND 1990 2008 236 18355 619
4 NM Lyon AUS 2011 2023 217 14563 460
5 R Ashwin IND 2011 2022 166 10912 449
6 HMRKB Herath SL 1999 2018 170 12157 433
7 Harbhajan Singh IND 1998 2015 190 13537 417
8 DL Vettori NZ 1997 2014 187 12441 362
9 LR Gibbs WI 1958 1976 148 8989 309
10 DL Underwood ENG 1966 1982 151 7674 297
11 BS Bedi IND 1966 1979 118 7637 266
12 Danish Kaneria PAK 2000 2010 112 9082 261
13 GP Swann ENG 2008 2013 109 7642 255
14 R Benaud AUS 1952 1964 116 6704 248
15 Yasir Shah PAK 2014 2022 89 7657 244
16 RA Jadeja IND 2012 2022 114 5980 242
16 BS Chandrasekhar IND 1964 1979 97 7199 242
18 Abdul Qadir PAK 1977 1990 111 7742 236
19 Shakib Al Hasan BAN 2007 2022 109 7204 231
20 Saqlain Mushtaq PAK 1995 2004 86 6206 208
20 SCG MacGill AUS 1998 2008 85 6038 208
22 MM Ali ENG 2014 2021 112 7149 195
23 EAS Prasanna IND 1962 1978 86 5742 189
24 Mushtaq Ahmed PAK 1990 2003 89 6100 185
25 Saeed Ajmal PAK 2009 2014 67 5003 178


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